According to this CNN article, McDonald’s is trying to shore up its earnings through various cost-cutting moves. They are also cutting prices on some of their products.
My question(s): Why doesn’t McDonald’s look into improving their product quality? It seems, from my perspective, that McDonald’s quality is slipped as they’re earnings slipped. Service is poor, restaurants are dirty, and the food is sloppy. In the 80’s, that seemed never to be the case.
I’m not McDonald’s bashing here. It just seems to me that the best way to sell more burgers is to make better burgers (within the fast-food concept). Keep your eye on consistent quality and profits will take care of themselves.
Probably because quality of the food doesn’t really figure into how many consumers choose to eat at McDonalds. Most people who DON’T eat at McDonalds do so because they believe that the food is unhealthy, they simply don’t like fast food in general, or they have some political objection to eating there. No one goes to McDonalds because they are looking for a great meal, they are generally looking for familiarity, speed, and a low price. The slight increase in patronage would overwhelmed by the increased cost.
I think they just add opium to selected menu items and leave quality control up to personal opinion, letting inyan (sp?) do the dirty work.
Seriously, I think they would gain more business upon using better oil for the fries.
That’s possible, but it’s hard to ignore the rather simple fact that McDonald’s’s share of the fast food pie has shrunk at EXACTLY the same time that their restaurants have gotten dirtier and the food has gotten less consistent and crappier.
McDonald’s isn’t losing customers to real restaurants or home cooked meals; they’re losing customer to Wendy’s, Burger King, and places like that. And it’s entirely possible the fact that McDonald’s outlets are now the worst-run and dirtiest of any of the major fast food chains has something to do with that.
It’s true that here in Sydney, people often go to another McDonald’s outlet in preference over a closer one, because of a perceived difference in quality. That wouldn’t have been an issue in the 80s. The food was bland, but it was consistently fresh, and tasted identical everywhere.
McDonald’s business is down internationally. They took the biggest hit by far in APMEA (which I take to mean Asia-Pacific-Middle East-Africa), and it is shrinking in all parts of the world, with the exception of Latin America. Maybe the world is getting “fed up” with globalization of multinational corporate giants. Just maybe.
Mc’d’s have (IMHO) gotten expensive (for what you get) over the years. Around here EVM’s go for about $5.50-7 bucks when you include the tax. This makes alternitves more attractive.
Right now they are having their ‘big n tasty’ or more commonly known as the Mc’D’s whopper for a buck - Being on the road a lot I have eaten many of these in the past month or so but would not pay full price for it ($3-$4 range with tax)- it isn’t that big or tasty.
Even though I like the idea of raising quality, I would rather have a decrease in price.
i think that the main macdonald’s problem is their lousy service. not to mention the rude help. there is too much competition for people to put up with rude help. also, people get tired of being told to pull over to the side and someone will bring their order out…even if they are called “special orders”. all people, everywhere, have been eating the same old junk for most of their lives, so they don’t really mind the lack of innovative new recipes. but when they plunk down money just to have some rude gangbanger wanna-be mumble something and give them part of their order…well, it kind of leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth.
I think that they simply overexpanded. I see McDonald’s a few blocks apart. Another thing is, their menu is still pretty limited, while their competitors have begun offerring more diverse choices.
I heard a report on BBC radio this morning that McDonalds are closing 170 outlets worldwide. They suggested that fears about the safety of beef (in Europe) and anti-Americanism (Asia) have contributed. The report also said there had been a drop in sales in Latin America.
I read newspaper article a few weeks back (sorry can’t remenber when, but probably in response to the recent suggestion that McDonalds should be an occaisional treat) which discussed McD’s in France, which said it was unpopular because the food was poor quality. It was popluar with children but only because of the free toy, with most of the Happy Meal untouched.
Isitpossible that the fast-food era is just over? Every product has an identifiable life cycle, and it may be that fast food is now in its decline phase. Certainly, people(at least in the USA) now have far more sophisticated palates than they did 50 years ago…and I can have a nice sit-down lunch at an Indian, Thai, orMexican restaurant now, for just a few dollars more than a crappy, unhealthy, grease-laden BigMac! I also think that given the huge (and growing) rate of child obesity in the US, parents are being more careful about what their children eat…I certainly don’t want my daughter to be eating this crap, when she could have a nice salad and fresh fruit foir lunch. The other thing-I have noticed that communities are far less willing to grant a license to a fast-food joint than in the past-the litter and trashy appearences of these places really is a blight on a nice neighborhood.
I’ll be shorting my McDonald’s stock!
Ralph – Whoa- maybe that`s a sign of the Armageddon!
No-one mentioned yet that McD`s has altered the method used to prepare food. They used to load up bins with burgers, and hope they all sold, then throw out the old ones.
Now they pretty much make them as they go. I suspect this was an attempt to make the food fresher and eliminate waste.
It may have affected service - everyone scrambles to make the orders last second and food prep is rushed.
Is this the case nation wide? Or maybe just regional?
I worked at McDonald’s as a child (well, adolescent) – McDonald’s’ (how do I make a possesive even more possesive?) definition of quality then was “consistency.” It didn’t really matter that their meat was tasteless, as long as the flavor was identical at all the McDonalds.
McDonald’s started sucking the minute they stopped toasting their buns. The fools.
I’ll concur about their prices – you get mediocre food for a high price compared to Wendy’s, which is awesome unless you have kids that must get their Crappy Meals.
Md Donald’s may be the one of the dirtiest fast food places around here, but they have the best fast food fish sandwich and hamburger, which is why I still go there. They may not be the biggest, but they taste the best.
Sorry 'bout that, seemed like a good time to poke fun at your screen name, with your best burger comment and all.